Return To Manticore
by Jenny08
Summary: Dark Angel/Lone Gunmen crossover. Done in 1st Person. AU because White works for Manticore. It's a bit odd, really.


Disclaimer: I own neither Dark Angel nor The Lone Gunmen or names affiliated with either. I own only me. Ashley owns Ashley. Katie owns Katie.  
  
This is gonna be really dumb, okay? It's in first person and written by me and a couple of my friends (Katie and Ashley.) It's actually the second piece to a who-knows-what-ligy. Ummm.are we up to 5 stories? I don't know. I'm only putting this one up. All out stories are Dark Angel/X- Files/Lone Gunmen. Yes, we're nerds.. It's AU because in this White works for Manticore. (What was I thinking?)  
  
Brrrring! My phone wakes me up at 6:32 A.M.  
"Hello," I say.  
"Jenny? It's Ashley. I'm coming over right now. Katie's been kidnapped and I need to tell you all I know."  
"Huh?" Click. "Well goodbye to you too!"  
Knock, knock, knock. That would be Ashley knocking at my chamber door, I think. Yep, it is her.  
"Hey, how'd you get here so fast?" I ask.  
Ignoring me, Ashley says, "We need to get right down to business. I checked the security cameras, but the people who took Katie are wearing masks. Here, I brought the tape."  
We go look at the tape with some editing equipment I have.  
"I've combed through it plenty of times already in the past few hours, but I can't find a single clue."  
I'm looking through the tape for the fifth time and finally I have an idea. I zoom in on one of the car's windows. (It was just buffed, I can tell.) There, I saw the reflection of Ames White. White is a member of a cult that is called the Familiar. The Familiar has been around for thousands of years, even before Manticore was making super-powered mutants called transgenics. He has enhanced strength much like the transgenics, like all the Familiar do.  
"Wow, I'm good," I say with a smile.  
We go to the Lone Gunmen's basement and tell them what has happened and showed them the tape.  
"Hey, look! Who is that in the background?" said Langly. "It looks like a shadow."  
"Who could that be?" wondered Ashley.  
Byers checked around on the internet and asked contacts of his if they knew anything about Manticore. One of them did. That was Kimmy.  
"Let's call him-," said Byers.  
"No," interrupted Langly.  
We decided to go to where Kimmy lives. He lives in an apartment a short way away from the Lone Gunmen's basement.  
Langly is in the front of our little party and knocks on the door.  
"Yeah, I'm coming. Hold your. oh Langly you came for."  
"We're here for important business." Frohike interrupts.  
"Yeah, what?" asks Kimmy.  
Ashley jumps over and pins Kimmy against the wall and says, "Tell us all you know about recent events involving Manticore!"  
"Calm down, calm down," I say. We're playing good cop-bad cop. I'm the good cop, Ashley's the bad cop. Katie's the.missing cop.  
Kimmy's eyes go as wide as dinner plates as he stutters, "I, I, all I know is it's a government military base training super-strong mutants. And, and. they're working on rounding them up again."  
"Again." Ashley says nervously, "Uh, I have to go now."  
"Uh. me too," I say.  
"Wait. What's wrong?" Frohike asks.  
We don't answer, but run for the door. We get in my truck and we already know where we're going without even saying it. We drive to Katie's house. From the outside it looks pretty normal, aside from a couple of broken windows that haven't always been there.  
The door is unlocked and we walk in. The place is trashed. Papers are everywhere, drawers are pulled out of dressers, things are off the walls, and some things are probably missing.  
"Huh. Her shoes are even gone," I observe.  
"We have to go find Katie," says Ashley.  
We go to our own houses to get out stuff and are ready (if you can ever truly be ready) to go back to Manticore. Manticore is in the middle of the woods. There is a fifteen-foot-tall electric fence around the training area. Luckily, we know another way in. Secret tunnels from the basement come out into the woods into some rocks and other objects. The rocks were shut tight, but we smash it and pull it open.  
In the basement it is dark and damp. There are pipes all over the walls and up in the ceiling. Ashley and I follow a hallway going into the dark. We don't need flashlights because we can see really well in the dark. Some of the rooms on the sides of the hall were open, but others were shut with transgenic creatures inside. That leads us to believe that what Kimmy said was true; that Manicore was at it again.  
We found a metal staircase and ascend it. It was brighter, but still gave us the creeps. A little ways up the stairs, a few feet above our heads, is a large vent.  
"Who wants to go do some scouting?" I ask pointing to the vent.  
"Not me," Ashley says.  
"Well, I don't want to either," I shoot back.  
"Okay, then we'll rock, paper, scissor for the right to stay here."  
I pick paper, and Ashley picks rock. I win. I give her a boost and in she goes.  
While she is in, I keep watch. After about ten minutes, a light is coming around the corner. "Uh-oh," I think. I back against the wall and wait to ambush whoever was coming. They come around the corner and I knock them out.  
It was Jimmy Bond! He's a friend of ours who also works with the Lone Gunmen. I prop him up against the wall and continue to watch and wait until Ashley comes out.  
Fifteen minutes or so later, she appears and tells me she saw White in a room that looked like a control room. I explain to her who Jimmy is and we wake him up.  
"Ow," is the first thing he says when he wakes up. "Oh, hi. What'd you do that for?"  
"Sorry, you can never be too careful," I answer.  
"How'd you know to come here?" Ashley asks.  
"The guys said they found an inside source. I don't know who it is. They also told me that you two freaked-out a couple days ago. What was that all about?"  
Ashley and I exchange glances. "We'll tell you later." Ashley says.  
Our little group continues on with Ashley leading the way toward the direction she thinks White was.  
"Stop. I have a feeling about that room," I say pointing to a door to my right. I open the door cautiously and creep in. Jimmy and Ashley stay in the doorway.  
I look around and see all there is to see in the room. "Maybe I was wrong about this room," I say and walk over to the window. We're a good way up. I walk back to the door and hear the floorboards creak. I freeze. I close my eyes and pray that what I think is going to happen won't happen. It does anyway. With a loud crash, I fall through the floor. I hear half a dozen guns cock around me.  
"Okay, I change my mind. Maybe I was right about that room..."  
My back hurts a lot, but I put my hands up. Some guy frisks me; then two more grab me by my arms and drag me to a little cell. I look for any possible way to escape, but find none. Those two men that brought me here are standing right outside on either side of the door, guarding me.  
Minutes later no one other than Ames White walks in wearing a nice suit, like every time I see him.  
"Doing my work for me?" he asks, all the while staring me down. "Why are you here and who sent you, two-four-eight?"  
I say nothing, and for it, he smacks me.  
"Do you have any idea what has happened to a Katie, a.k.a. three- seven-two?" I ask.  
"I'm asking the questions here!" Wow, he's jumpy. "Okay," he's taking deep breaths and getting himself calmed down. "I know you know we have her. I know almost everything you know."  
"Then why are you asking me questions?" I shoot back.  
He's tired of me and my smart mouth now. He moves to the door and says, "I have to do my job. You're going back to the training camps."  
"Whatever." I say when he's out the door. I'm left sitting on the floor in my little cell. I don't know how much time passed, but later, the door unlocks and in steps Yves Adele Harlow. She is the woman that is always setting up the Lone Gunmen and getting in the way, but at times she's okay to be around.  
"What on earth are you doing here?" I ask her.  
"That's just what I was about to ask you," she says in her arrogant British accent. "I have earned the trust of this Agent Ames White and have been helping him bring back transgenics to eventually shut Manticore down."  
"Wow. That's pretty cool."  
"First of all, some questions. What are you doing here? In this cell, I mean." It feels like she's interrogating me in this little room. All that's missing is the light bulb hanging from the ceiling.  
"I fell through the floor while Ashley, Jimmy, and I were looking for a friend." I answer.  
"Jimmy Bond?" she asks. I nod my head. "Then that means the three stooges are probably here too."  
"Probably," I say.  
She turns on her heel without so much as a goodbye, even though this may be the last time she ever sees me. Alive anyway. I decide to try to get some sleep for whatever's coming in the next day.  
I wake up to quite a ruckus out in the hall. The doors unlock and as I reach to yank open the door, Ashley kicks open the door, it hits me, and I fly back into the wall. My nose feels broken.  
"Sorry, let's go," she says.  
"Have you found Katie?" I ask while picking myself up, dusting myself off, and getting out the door.  
"Not yet, but the Gunmen are doing their stuff up in the control room so no one even knows I got you out of here yet. Langly, have you seen her yet?" she says the last part into a microphone connected into a receiver in her ear.  
"I'm working on it," he answers. We put the guards in the cell and lock the door. We sneak around in the halls peeking in rooms because we have no clue what else to do.  
Footsteps. Someone's coming. Ashley and I back against the wall and attempt to prepare ourselves for who- or whatever may be coming. White walks by with Katie hanging on his arm!  
"What the." I say and turn to Ashley with one eyebrow raised as soon as they're out of hearing range.  
"Follow them," Ashley says.  
They go into a room with windows that we can just barely peek in by the side without having to worry about being seen.  
I feel a hand on my shoulder and jump about a foot in the air, flip that person around so I'm behind him and have myself in a position to strangle him.  
"Jimmy!" I say as loud as a whisper can yell. "I've warned you about this before! Don't sneak up on people like that!"  
"Jeez, sorry. I thought that you would hear with your super-hearing and all." he apologizes and Ashley rolls her eyes.  
"Not when we have all our attention trained on one certain thing!" I say. "Where have you been?" Ashley asks him like she's his mom  
"With the guys in the control room. Did you know that Yves is here?" he answers.  
"Yeah, I know. She paid me a little visit back there." I say.  
All three of us turn our attention back to the room. A door on the other side of the room opens and Yves enters. They talk about something with expressions on their faces that kind of makes it look important. I wish I could read lips, I think.  
"How are we going to get to her?" Jimmy wonders aloud.  
"Maybe we could distract him with something." Ashley says. We all think about what we could do for that one.  
"I'll do it," Jimmy says.  
"What?" Ashley and I both say at the same time.  
"I'll be the distraction," he replies.  
"You're crazy!" Ashley exclaims.  
"We need to do something, don't we? I have a plan. Besides," he says, "you can get me out of trouble if I get into it, right?"  
"We'll try our best, but there are no guarantees," I say.  
"Well, your best is pretty good. I've seen it before. I'm doing it. Bye."  
"Good luck," Ashley says. He walks off down the hall. We don't have a clue about what he's going to do, but we hope he doesn't do anything more stupid than he's done before.  
A few minutes later, Yves, White, and Katie are still talking. Then White's phone rings. He answers it and looks alarmed. That's our cue to fall back into the shadows. It's only him that exits. Ashley puts her foot in the door so it won't close and lock. When White's gone, we enter the room. Katie and Yves both look surprised to see us.  
"You're here!" Katie shouts.  
"Yes, and it wasn't easy. So come on and let's go before White comes back and Jimmy gets himself killed," Ashley says.  
"No," Katie says. "I want to stay here."  
"What?" Ashley and I both say at the same time again.  
"You heard me,"  
"Why?"  
"Because I'm in love with Ames."  
Our mouths drop open and we're speechless. After a long silence I say: "Well, that is an interesting plot twist." We hear gunshots from out in the distance in the halls. "I helped bring her here," Yves says. "The tape you have was staged. It wasn't even Katie in it. She has been here at Manticore for almost a week before you discovered her to be gone." "You were the person in the shadows!" Ashley says. "Yes," Yves says, "White wanted it to be hard for you to know she was here. Apparently, you're smarter than you look." What an insult. "What's going to happen to us? White wants to keep all free transgenics here," I say. "It's his job," Yves says. "He'll do it no matter what the circumstances." "Can't you get him to give us a pardon or something? Or maybe get him to quit this job that he's so good at?" I half-beg, half-ask Katie. "No chance in either of those," White says at the door. He has a good hold on Jimmy who's obviously had his butt kicked by White. White also has his gun out and ready. It felt like the world stood still. Everyone was thinking of what they should do. Suddenly, Jimmy elbowed White in the face. Ashley jumped and tackled him. Jimmy got the gun away from him. "Katie, remember the last woman he loved, he killed," Ashley says while she, Jimmy, and I hold White down. Katie had no response to that one. We used White's own handcuffs to handcuff him to a pipe going vertically up the wall. "We're leaving," I say giving White a dirty look. Katie doesn't move. "Come on, Katie," Ashley pleads. "I'm staying with Ames, sorry," "Oh, fine then. We went through all the trouble to get here to come save you and you won't even come. You owe us big!" I cry.  
We hesitate and stand there in silence (except for White who is still struggling to get out of those handcuffs) before moving to the door. Jimmy goes, then I go, and finally Ashley. As we walk do the hall, we can hear White yell:  
"This isn't over! I'll get you and bring you back!"  
We leave the same way we came, through the tunnels. Jimmy rented a van and the Lone Gunmen are waiting in it on the road, which is about half a mile from the tunnel exits. The Gunmen don't ask why we are missing a person. They probably figure Jimmy would tell them everything later.  
"How did you guys get here?" I ask them.  
"Plane," Byers answers.  
"He got to ride in the plane. We had to ride in the cargo hold, and boy, that was one long and uncomfortable ride," Langly complains.  
"How did you know to come to Manticore? And how did you know how to get in?" Ashley asks.  
"I came through that tunnel, the same way you did. Just because they told me too," Jimmy says pointing a Byers and Frohike in the front seats.  
"That inside source," Frohike explains, "was Yves."  
We told the stories of what happened to each of us. I learned that after I fell through the floor, Ashley and Jimmy found their way to the control room and Jimmy came back to get the Gunmen. They knocked out the three men that worked there and took over. Jimmy's distraction was setting free all of the transgenic creatures that were in the rooms in the basement and getting them upstairs to run amok. The gunshot we heard was White and other people firing at them all. As I figured, White did beat Jimmy up a bit.  
When we got to the airport, we all got seats so none of would have to ride back in the cargo hold.  
"So.uh.can we use this story in the paper?" Langly asks us and gets a smack from Byers. Their paper is called The Lone Gunmen, which exposes conspiracies and other such things. Their stories are real though, compared to the ones you see at the checkouts in supermarkets.  
"Yeah, sure," Ashley says and I nod.  
Now we have to keep watch for White and other people from Manticore that want us either back, or dead. And eventually we'll know what happened to our friend, Katie.  
  
If anyone actually reads this, feel free to review. But please don't yell at me.. 


End file.
